In The Independent earlier this week, British journalist Hamish McRae remarked that "Europe is huge." Only the prevalence of air travel, which has taken over from road and rail, allows us to forget this geographic reality. Over the last 15 years, the deregulation of the air transport market and the low-cost revolution have made it easier, faster and much cheaper to fly in Europe. And though we may be critical of their business practices, most of us will admit that there is some credit to the view that Ryanair and EasyJet have done more to build relations between European citizens than major institutional projects and the enlargement of the Union. So it was a key aspect of a European lifestyle that was suddenly grounded by the eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull.

A week of air traffic bans did much to raise consciousness of our dependence on air travel. We also realized that certain regions, in particular in eastern Europe, are not sufficiently accessible by road and rail. And finally, we took note of the environmental gains — a reduction in noise pollution and CO2 emissions — prompted by the closing of European airspace. The development of a citizens' Europe is in part based on a means of transport that is polluting, non-egalitarian in as much as some of us are forced to use it because we have no alternative, and fragile — so fragile that even a cloud can result in the cancelation of a wide range of activities. If it is to fulfill its social, environmental and political aspirations, Europe should take this opportunity to rethink its transport model.

It could do more to develop a high speed rail network that extends across the entire continent, coordinate the activity of major national airports to rationalise and reduce the air traffic over our heads, and establish a European plan to promote the transport of air freight by rail or sea. In short, the ash cloud may have a silver lining, because it has revealed a host of areas where Europeans should be encouraged to work together to create a more stable and greener economy.

Eric Maurice

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